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In this classic novel by John Updike, we return to a character as compelling and timeless as Rabbit Angstrom: the inimitable Henry Bech. Famous for his writer's block, Bech is a Jew adrift in a world of Gentiles. As he roams from one adventure to the next, he views life with a blend of wonder and cynicism that will make you laugh with delight and wince in recognition.

From the Publisher:In this classic novel by John Updike, we return to a character as compelling and timeless as Rabbit Angstrom: the inimitable Henry Bech. Famous for his writer's block, Bech is a Jew adrift in a world of Gentiles. As he roams from one adventure to the next, he views life with a blend of wonder and cynicism that will make you laugh with delight and wince in recognition.Updike's most irresistible hero since Rabbit Angstrom is an author famous for his writer's block, a Jew adrift in a world of gentiles. As he roams from one adventure to the next, he view life with a blend of wonder and cynicism that will make readers laugh with delight and wince in recognition.

Annotation:The original volume of stories about John Updike's Jewish alter ego, Henry Bech.This is John Updike's original volume of stories about his alter ego, Henry Bech, who in many ways is as unlike Updike as it's possible to be (Jewish, short, unmarried, and a failure who suffers from writer's block). Updike, however, finds his way inside Bech's mind, and gives us a hero who is very real, zanily hilarious, and (despite everything) utterly lovable.

Author Bio

John Updike

John Updike, the son of a schoolteacher father and a mother who wanted to be a writer, was raised in Reading, Pennsylvania--a town not unlike Brewer, where, many years later, he situated his famous character, Rabbit Angstrom. Updike graduated from Harvard, where he nourished "an un-Harvardian desire to be a cartoonist," as he put it in an interview, and where he was turned down "repeatedly" for Archibald MacLeish's writing class. He was also editor of Harvard's famous humor magazine, the Lampoon. After college, Updike worked for a few years on the staff of The New Yorker before he began publishing fiction. He is the author of over 50 books, including not only novels but collections of short stories, poems, and criticism--even children's books. His novels have been almost invariably critical and popular successes, and his tetralogy about Rabbit Angstrom (RABBIT, RUN; RABBIT REDUX; RABBIT IS RICH; RABBIT AT REST) has assured him a prominent place in American literary history. Updike is a disciplined writer who has said that he can't enjoy the rest of the day until he's written at least a thousand words. Considered one of the masters of contemporary fiction, he has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the American Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Updike is the father of four children and has been married twice. He died in 2009 from lung cancer.

Praise

New York Times Book Review"...Henry Bech has the life Updike might have had if he were Jewish." - Alison Lurie 03/28/1999